How to Protect Your Girlfriend from a Crazed Road Rager

News reports and a helmet cam video depicting a road rage incident in Yuma, Arizona have surfaced and are currently getting some viral attention. It would appear that the motorcyclist may have split lanes past the disgruntled motorist who responded with what appears to be a totally unnecessary display violence and some serious crazy eyes. Unfortunately for him, he makes a major miscalculation and ends up on the ground.

You can check out the video below, but be warned it does contain some violence and we’re still sort of scared of the bulgy-eyes motorist, who according to later reports, may have been intoxicated in some way or another—which is not terribly hard to believe after watching the footage. Unfortunately, this

The guy who looks like someone stole the precious from Gollum the bug eyes is the enraged motorist; he was mad, as you can see. At the stoplight, he gets out of his car in a rage and goes storming towards the motorcyclist, whose girlfriend is also on the bike. With no hesitation the motorist immediately throws hands at the biker, who from the sound of his voice and words, was in no way looking for a fight. By the time the motorcyclist asks if the man has a problem, old-bulgy eyes has already assaulted him and his girlfriend. Quite frankly, with that crazed look in his eyes and laying hands on the motorcyclist as well as his girlfriend, we think the biker responded appropriately, having to restrain the enraged man.

Time and time again the motorcyclist asks the man if he’s ready to stop fighting back and being violent, and eventually has to hold the man on the ground by his arms and restrain him until police arrived. As numerous witnesses are seen on camera explaining that they also saw the whole thing go down, some good Samaritan comes along and puts a blanket under bulgy-eyes’ head—how kind. As the biker’s girlfriend calls police, it is clear that the biker does not want to engage the driver in violence and is pushed to this point. We hope that no trouble comes to the biker thanks to his handy helmet cam that captured the entire incident. Even if he shouldn’t have been splitting lanes, at worst he deserved a citation, not physical violence.

If you’ve ever sat in traffic and watched a motorcycle split the lanes and cruise down the middle, it’s natural to get a little annoyed. However, this is primarily because of the safety hazard involved in this (and of course, a little jealousy over being cut in line). Violence is never the answer over a traffic incident. While some might say that the motorcyclist also used violence, this is about as clear a case of self defense as you’ll ever see. Luckily for him, a motorcycle and body armor make a pretty good outfit for being attacked. Many are saying that the motorcyclist would have been justified in issuing a serious beat-down in this situation, but we applaud him for his self-control. It takes a bigger person not to escalate the situation, especially when his girlfriend has been assaulted.

Though one party is clearly ‘more wrong’ here, it is important to note that there was in fact wrongdoing on both sides. In Arizona it is not legal to split lanes on a motorcycle, which is apparently what set the road rager off. We’re not here to dispute that. Perhaps too the biker could have quickly accelerated away from the violent man and protected himself and his girlfriend. However, once the driver is already assaulting him, and his passenger is forced to dismount from the bike, the motorcyclist’s options have been severely reduced. Never throwing a punch or seeking to injure the man, many will agree that the biker employed a necessary degree of force. All in all, luckily no one was hurt worse.

According to local TV news coverage, no arrests were mad. The original video’s post caption reads “multiple charges against [the white-shirted assailant] including endangerment, threatening, and assault.” On Youtube, you can see that are also comments suggesting the road raging Gollum guy broke his ankle in the fall, and that is the reason “why he did not go to jail.” The details are a little unclear, but one thing is for sure, this could have gone a lot worse for both parties.

Road rage violence is a serious problem in the US and this is far from the first or last incident of the sort. However, in 2015, you just can’t go around attacking people and their girlfriends—especially not people with helmet cams who are apparently quite a bit stronger than you. Stay calm on the roads, drive sober and be kind to your fellow motorists; don’t end up like bulgy-eyes!